Happy Cheapskate: Coffee and the cost of convenience

Coffee is not the most popular beverage in the world (that would be tea), but it has to be the most important. Or maybe that's beer. Or wine. Anyway, coffee is pretty darned important. Just take it away from the hundreds of millions who drink it every day and watch what happens.

But this coffee stuff can be pretty costly. And I'm not referring to those beans that go in and out of some unfortunate Asian civet. Even the simple joe we prepare at home can set us back thousands of dollars a year.

Don't believe me?

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Over the next few weeks. I'll going to look at the cost of all sorts of convenience foods and just how much more we get from our food by taking the easy route.

This is as economical (i.e. cheap) as it gets:

• A 12-ounce bag of ground coffee (Tim Hortons variety, $6.69) will produce 25 eight-ounce servings at a cost of 26 cents apiece. That's pretty good.
• If you upscale to Starbucks, a 12-ounce bag of of grinds ($12.99) will produce 25 eight-ounce servings for 50 cents apiece.

Now, say you you have one of those Keurig home brewing machines that makes coffee by the cup. My, aren't they handy? 

Sadly, the K-cups that go in this machine are not cheap. Nor, sadly, are they recyclable.

It seems everybody is making these K-cups — from the Cake Boss to McDonald's.  Just one of those little suckers can set you back more than a dollar.

• The Starbucks brand of K-cups costs about $1.05 each;  
• The Tim Hortons brand is about 70 cents apiece.
• At Costco, a variety box of 80 assorted K-cups cost for $44, or 55 cents each.

Did you know you can get K-cups for hot chocolate? And tea. Tea!!! Why would anyone rev up the Keurig and pay 80 cents for a cup of Twinings English Breakfast tea when you can boil the kettle and grab an individually wrapped bag from a box for 15 cents??

(FYI:  A plain old box of Tetley with 216 teabags means each cup costs about four-and-a-half cents. Why pay more?)

If you just HAVE to grab your coffee on the run, be prepared to pay.  

• Eight ounces (a small) at Tim's drive-thru runs $1.37, before tax. That's FIVE times as much as you'd pay if you made it in the coffee pot at home.
• At Starbucks, eight ounces will set you back $1.75 pre-tax. That's THREE-AND-A-HALF times more than if you made it at home with a regular coffee maker.

Granted, you save on the cost of a coffee maker. But you pay for the gas to idle your car at the drive-thru.

And here's something weird: Each Starbucks coffee from the shop is about 40 cents more than its Tim's counterpart, regardless of size. An eight-ounce Starbucks is 40 cents more than an eight-ounce Tims; a 20-ounce Starbucks is 40 cents more than a 20-ounce Tims. 

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Also, If you plan on drinking two small or medium take-out coffees today, it's cheaper to buy one big large or extra-large coffees than two smaller ones. (Just sayin'.)

Here's an annual breakdown: 

• If you drink two eight-ounce cups a day, it'll cost about $180 a year to make it at home ($380 if you use Starbucks grinds);
• If you use the Keurig, it could cost $500 a year;
• If you get it at the drive-thru every time, try $1,000. (That's a goodly portion of an April all-inclusive trip to Mexico.)